WELCOME TO THE CFZ BLOG NETWORK: COME AND JOIN THE FUN

Half a century ago, Belgian Zoologist Bernard Heuvelmans first codified cryptozoology in his book On the Track of Unknown Animals.

The Centre for Fortean Zoology (CFZ) are still on the track, and have been since 1992. But as if chasing unknown animals wasn't enough, we are involved in education, conservation, and good old-fashioned natural history! We already have three journals, the largest cryptozoological publishing house in the world, CFZtv, and the largest cryptozoological conference in the English-speaking world, but in January 2009 someone suggested that we started a daily online magazine! The CFZ bloggo is a collaborative effort by a coalition of members, friends, and supporters of the CFZ, and covers all the subjects with which we deal, with a smattering of music, high strangeness and surreal humour to make up the mix.

It is edited by CFZ Director Jon Downes, and subbed by the lovely Lizzy Bitakara'mire (formerly Clancy), scourge of improper syntax. The daily newsblog is edited by Corinna Downes, head administratrix of the CFZ, and the indexing is done by Lee Canty and Kathy Imbriani. There is regular news from the CFZ Mystery Cat study group, and regular fortean bird news from 'The Watcher of the Skies'. Regular bloggers include Dr Karl Shuker, Dale Drinnon, Richard Muirhead and Richard Freeman.The CFZ bloggo is updated daily, and there's nothing quite like it anywhere else. Come and join us...

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Unlike some of our competitors we are not going to try and blackmail you into donating by saying that we won't continue if you don't. That would just be vulgar, but our lives, and those of the animals which we look after, would be a damn sight easier if we receive more donations to our fighting fund. Donate via Paypal today...




Friday, June 01, 2012

LINK: 'Mermaids: The Body Found' Is Like 'Lost Tapes' on Steroids

Mermaids: The Body Found is an Animal Planet mockumentary that takes a look at this hypothetical situation—what if the half-human, half-fish creatures really did exist, and what if man discovered them?

But the show's aquatic beings are nothing like Disney's human-obsessed Ariel—they look more like Avatar aliens with tails or the Harry Potter merpeople and should definitely want nothing to do with humans.

Anyone who tuned in over the Memorial Day weekend to watch one of the showings of the mockumentary hoping to see real evidence of merpeople ended up being sorely disappointed. And hopefully most viewers realized that the show wasn't real by the time it was over—it doesn't seem as though Animal Planet was really trying to fool the public with a modern-day Fiji mermaid. P.T. Barnum popularized the Fiji mermaid sideshow attraction shown in the photo on the right—it was basically a mummified monkey head and torso sewed to that of a fish and covered with papier-mâché.

In Mermaids: The Body Found, researchers for NOAA are investigating whale beachings all around the world. They decide that the Navy is testing a new kind of sonar that's causing the creatures to beach themselves, and while listening to some of the sonar recordings that took place during the testing, they hear what seems to be a new species of dolphin.

Read on...

BABY BIGFOOT?

The vast ecosystem formed by the Red River watershed on the borders of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana affords a habitat comprised of many micro-climates with an incredible diversity and richness of plant and animal life. In many of the deep ravines where the creeks and waterways have cut through the the limestone cap rock, the vegetation has a nearly tropical aspect. Towering, ancient cypress trees form a canopy above the underbrush and thick hanging vines. These ravines are like a primordial oasis, seldom traversed by humans. Often in remote wildernesses, surrounded by thousands of acres of temperate woodlands and meadows. The ravines are a favored living quarters for the Sasquatch or “Bigfoot”


Read on...

ANDREW MAY: Words from the Wild Frontier

News and stories from the remoter fringes of the CFZ blogosphere...

From Nick Redfern's World of Whatever:
From CFZ Australia:

DALE DRINNON: Bigfoot and other mystery primates

New at the Frontiers of Zoology:
And also Tyler Stone has added a new entry at his blog, The New Zoology:

HAUNTED SKIES: Daily Telegraph 16.9.67.



http://hauntedskies.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/daily-telegraph-16967.html

I'M THE GONZO BLOG DOO DAH MAN

So another weekend is here. It is very peaceful this morning because I am the only person awake, and Graham has gone off to see Hawkwind and his mother (not necessarily in that order). It is a glorious summer day, and once again I have risen bright and early so I can get on with the blogs without interruption.

First up this morning is a brief note from Erik Norlander about his new video:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/erik-norlander-writes.html

Then, I am afraid, we have bad news for Rick Wakeman fans:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/bad-news-for-wakeman-fans.html
And whilst on the subject of Rick Wakeman:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/link-rick-wakeman-review.html

We have a link to a cracking review of Galahad:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/link-great-galahad-review.html

And finally, I review a Leonard Cohen reference book:
http://gonzo-multimedia.blogspot.com/2012/06/review-leonard-cohen-book.html

See you tomorrow, which being a sunday will be done in bad poetry. Blimey, has a whole week gone by already?

OLL LEWIS: Yesterday's News Today

http://cryptozoologynews.blogspot.com/
On this day in 1835 P.T. Barnum's newly established circus embarked on it's first national tour of the United States of America.

And now the news:
Evolution of Birds Is Result of a Drastic Change i...
Chemical Fingerprinting Tracks the Travels of Litt...
Canadian man pulled out of outhouse by rampaging b...
Beetle Flight: Flapping Protective Wings Increase ...
Folksy, Animated Rodent Challenges 'Invasive Speci...
Article: Vintage Zoo Pamphlets Feature Odd Exhibit...
Starling rescued from dangerous bird feeder
Close encounters with a Minke whale

One of the travelling exhibits in Barnum's circus was “The Great Unknown” as explained here by Silas Hawkins' enactment of a P.T. Barnum monologue I wrote for the Weird Weekend:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Le_Z4JWkQeg

TOBY THE CFZ DOG Mk 1 (1985-2000)

On the first of June 2000, I had Toby, my dear old dog euthanased. He was fifteen and a bit years old and riddled with cancer. It was still possibly the hardest decision I have ever had to make, and not a day goes by when I don't think of him.

Rest in Peace my dear old friend...

ON THE TRACK

Is mildly delayed, only because we want Richard to be involved, and he doesn't arrive until this evening. Expect it before the end of the Bank Holiday weekend...